Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis couldn’t stop raving about her charges’ performance in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Morocco in a friendly in Agadir, saying the result was a “confidence-booster”.
Banyana used this clash to prepare for next year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), to be hosted by the same Morocco from March 17 to April 3. Nonhlanhla Mthandi and Noxolo Cesane were on target on Tuesday, ensuring SA beat Morocco again, having outwitted them in the 2022 Wafcon final to win what remains their only continental title thus far in Rabat.
This win is a big confidence-booster, and we did say that coming to Morocco, the host country of the upcoming Wafcon, a few months before Wafcon was important.
— Desiree Ellis, Banyana Banyana coach
“This win is a big confidence-booster, and we did say that coming to Morocco, the host country [of the upcoming Wafcon], a few months before Wafcon was important,” Ellis said.
“I really have to take my hat off for the players; they really stood up today... it was a great performance, but maybe at times we did not move the ball around as much as we would have liked. On top of that great performance, we managed a clean sheet.”
Ellis expects a challenging Wafcon now that the tournament has been expanded to 16 teams from 12 teams. That the Wafcon is also a World Cup qualifier, as the top four teams get to represent Africa at the global spectacle, also makes it more challenging, Ellis reckons.
“With the teams now increased to 16, it’s going to be a tough Wafcon, especially because it’s also a World Cup qualifier,” the Banyana trainer said.
Veteran defender Bambanani “Juice” Mbane values the clean sheet they kept against Morocco away, saying it was a “great achievement”.
“It was very important to close off the year with a win, and that will give us confidence going into [the] year 2026. Before the game I told Lauren [Duncan, the team manager] that as defenders the most important thing for us is clean sheets, and I am so happy that we managed to achieve one today... as a defender this is a great achievement,” the 35-year-old Mbane said.
Sowetan
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